We may earn money from the companies or products mentioned in this post.
by Ashland Menshouse
About the Book – Do you believe?
Can a ghost haunt more than your home? Can a Sasquatch track more than footprints?
Aubrey Taylor’s quaint and cozy life in the subdued, Appalachian town of Lake Julian had never been exceptional. Shouldered by his lifelong friends, Buzz Reiselstein and Rodriqa Auerbach, he quietly endured the puerile punishments of a persistent pack of pesky bullies that included the most-feared kid in school, Magnos Strumgarten, and his own obnoxiously, well-accomplished brother, Gaetan. Comfortable in his humdrum niche of the absolutely average, Aubrey never pushed back.
Until…fate dug a little too deep…and the unseen darkness of unspoken places rattled his mediocrity.
When spurious specters and elusive mountain men battle for a tomb of Watchers, buried in ages past, only those who choose to look beyond the surface feel the grip of the ancients’ revenge. Unusual disappearances, a colorful cadre of insightful townsfolk and a whirlwind of blunders and mishaps exposes the struggling forces that transform Aubrey and his friends into more than spectators amidst the oldest war of all.
Prepare yourself to see the unseen as you’ve never seen it before. (info from goodreads)
About the Author – Ashland Menshouse received a Bachelor’s degree from Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky. He obtained a doctoral degree from the University of Kentucky and completed post-doctoral studies at Emory University. He currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia, where he spends most of his time working with ill and injured children. (info from goodreads)
My Thoughts – This book has a disclosure, and I laughed out loud! I even had to read it to Mark, and later my mom and sister. Not many books have disclosures, and none have ever been as funny as this one.
It took a bit to get into the book though. I felt at many points the story line wandered. However, once the plot picked up, I found it an enjoyable story. The story line still wandered sometimes, and I was left hanging until it got back to that particular even. The main characters seem well rounded and very believable to me, but the extra/side/minor characters are harder for me to feel are real. The cops act childish, and the grownups seem to have their priorities all out of whack.
One more point to be cautious about, is if you scare easy, this book is probably not for you. It doesn’t seem that scary, but I have a fairly over active imagination in the middle of the night. There were a couple nights I freaked myself out over ghosts (that I know don’t exist) and Big Foot. It really didn’t help that the Big Foot steals some rings from one of the main characters, and the whole time I was reading this book, my wedding rings were missing. I started wondering when Big Foot snuck off with my rings (no worries, they showed up finally. Today, just before writing this review….)
Overall I would recommend this book to middle schoolers looking for an adventure.